$100 Challenge: How Ren made $200 this month

Bryce: [00:00:31] Welcome to Get Started Investing, a podcast where we attempt to answer the most common money and investing questions from the community in a hope that we all become better investors. Now, if you are joining us for the first time, welcome, We strongly recommend that you scroll up and start at episode one. While we are licensed, we're not aware of your personal circumstances. All information on this show is for education and entertainment purposes. Any advice is general advice. But with that said, let's crack on. My name is Bryce, and as always, I'm joined by my equity buddy, Ren. How you going?

Alec: [00:01:00] I'm very good, Bryce. Good to be here. Good to be back. We have. Well, I've just had about a month in the US, and you are holding down the fort for a couple of weeks. Yes, but good to be back. And I'll tell you what I need this episode where up to a $100 challenge where every month we try and save or earn an extra hundred dollars to invest in the market, because as we keep saying, $100 invested every month for 40 years is $350,000. Mm hmm. But, Bryce, I'll tell you what. I need to get some discipline into my spending this month because the US took it out of me.

Bryce: [00:01:38] I bet. Yeah, there were some. There were some expensive moments. The exchange rate didn't help us. We think at the lowest point it was 1.50. Aussie. So we got, we got hit there. 

Alec: [00:01:51] The $20 beers or the baseball or Aperol spritz in Brooklyn didn't help either. 

Bryce: [00:01:58] 20 to $45 for an alcohol spritz at the bar we went to and then quickly left. I'll make it very clear we left to buy one of the beautiful. 

Alec: [00:02:07] We left the bar, got on a plane and came. Straight off. 

Bryce: [00:02:11] Budget. Blind. Yes. With tipping taxes, all sorts of things. It can add up pretty quickly as a traveller over there, but it was an awesome experience nonetheless. If you're interested to hear some of the content that we created while in the States while saying Berkshire sorry, while saying Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger at Perthshire Hathaway, go over to the Equity Markets Investing podcast where we've got some recap episodes for our time. 

Alec: [00:02:34] But Bryce, I said we're doing the hundred dollar challenge and I'll tell you what, it's building some momentum. We're getting some voice notes from the equity mates community of people embracing the challenge and trying to do little things to either earn or save an extra hundred dollars every month.

EM Community: [00:03:00] Hey equity mates, My name is Gab and this month I save money by making coffee at home. My order is a strong cappuccino, so I'm already adding a dollar in extras every time I buy a coffee. So this is saving me 40 bucks a week.

EM Community: [00:03:14] Hi, equity mates. My name is Gus, and I've saved about 140 bucks this month just by cutting down on the amount that I spend at lunch time. So I used to spend around 15 bucks a day on work lunches. However, I've found a few apps like Ritual that help save on those everyday meals. And yeah, it's led to about seven or eight bucks a day in savings and amounted to about 140 bucks in the month. Equity mates heard you call. That's a hit. My budget booster just finished reading a 22 book series through the library. I've saved both money and space by borrowing the books. I've saved over $400 and it's gone straight to the Overseas Holiday fund for later in the year. Love the content, guys. Keep it up. 

EM Community: [00:04:01] Jess Pretty mates, my lady. Sophie This month I saved some money by switching electricity providers to a cheaper plan. It helps meet my savings goals because I get to save a little bit of money each quarter and it makes me feel less guilty when I use the aid at this point. 

Bryce: [00:04:16] That's what some of the community members are doing for their hundred dollar challenge this month. But we need to recap what happened for us last month to see if any of either of us got a 100 in the bank to invest. 

Alec: [00:04:28] Why don't you kick it off? What did you say you were going to do? 

Bryce: [00:04:30] I said that I was going to do wi-fi only.

Alec: [00:04:37] Another one of your silly suggestions. Sell your truck here, sell clear umbrellas, only use wifi overseas. You don't even need to tell me how that went. I can tell you how that went.

Bryce: [00:04:47] The aim actually was that I wouldn't blow out on my data. 

Alec: [00:04:51] You wouldn't pay for data roaming? You would only use what was included in here. 

Bryce: [00:04:55] What was included. So we're over there for like, how many days? Like 12 days or 13 days or something. So I could have easily blown out 130 plus dollars. I came back with an extra 20 on top of my bill. . I was pretty happy with it. Surprisingly, surprisingly did have data roaming on in parts, but it didn't show up anywhere. Like I turned everything off and just used it to order over and I guess check WhatsApp when needed or whatever. So data consumption for the whole trip was actually pretty low, which I was pretty happy with. I didn't quite save an extra 100. I spent 20 bucks on top of my phone bill, but I have travelled before and come back with hundreds on top of my phone bill. So. Outside of this challenge, I'm actually quite pleased with the result. 

Alec: [00:05:42] Nice, nice, nice. 

Bryce: [00:05:45] So unfortunately Ren, I don't have anything but in good spirit I have invested $100 into the, into the ASX 200 just to keep this thing ticking over. We won't record it, but I just want to keep the momentum of investing.

Alec: [00:06:01] Yeah. Scorers, you know, the, the main thing is you keep trying and everyone listening keeps trying as well to just do the little things right. Yeah. Well I think there's probably a lesson in some of the things that you're proposing every month. Perhaps you could just take a deep breath and do some of the easier things. 

Bryce: [00:06:18] Well, yes, I've got an update and an idea of how to tackle it from here on. But let's hear how you went, because you also turned to Facebook to try and sell something. 

Alec: [00:06:28] Yeah, well, I was sick of hearing about your drum kit and how you couldn't sell it, how they were too many bought to, how it was all too hard. So for May I said I have a bike in my garage that when I lived in Melbourne I rode it to and from work every day. But since coming to Sydney it's just sat in my garage. So I said, I'm going to sell it and let me tell you what price I may have paid in America for a month, but I sold it. And for those who are just listening, I just threw the cash down on the table. To prove to Bryce that you can sell things on Facebook Marketplace. 

Bryce: [00:07:02] Why did you sell it for? 

Alec: [00:07:05] 20 bucks. 

Bryce: [00:07:05] Oh, nice. Yeah, nice. Congrats. 

Alec: [00:07:07] Thank you.

Bryce: [00:07:08] 200 in the lead. 

Alec: [00:07:09] Yeah. Well the two other things.

Bryce: [00:07:11] You get done with bots. it's probably not of high enough value to it. Seriously, I think. 

Alec: [00:07:18] I'm not a fan of that. But yeah. Clean simple. Find something that you're not using. 

Bryce: [00:07:25] Well yeah. Okay. So speaking of, I'm going to pick up the drum kit again Because. I can't wait to throw down 1500 dollars on the table. So the saga continues. And the biggest hurdle has been the fact that it's in Wagga and I'm in Sydney and a lot of the interest is coming from people who are living in Sydney, despite it still being like geode, like the listing is from Wagga, like a lot of people are. Picking it up when they search and and still wanting to buy it. But I've had multiple offers to purchase, but it always falls flat. 

Alec: [00:07:58] You should target Canberra. 

Bryce: [00:08:00] Oh, it will. I mean, like, it's.

Alec: [00:08:01] A lot easier to pick it up from Canberra than. 

Bryce: [00:08:03] It is a paper. People just regardless if they're not in Wagga they like, not too far can be bothered. So Ren, the good news is though, my parents are coming to Sydney. So given that my parents have really started this whole affair by really wanting to get it out of the garage, I thought I would call them to make sure of that. 

Alec: [00:08:28] Don't put your parents as the evil ones here For. Your stuff out of that garage. You moved out 15 years ago. 

Bryce: [00:08:37] I'm going to call them and see if they will be so kind as to pack the drum kit into the back of the car and bring it to Sydney. 

Bryce's Dad: [00:08:50] Hello.

Bryce: [00:08:50] Dad. How are you? 

Bryce's Dad: [00:08:54] Good, good.

Bryce: [00:08:54] That's good. I've got Ren here. You're on the podcast at the moment. We're just recording right now. You know that. 

Alec: [00:09:06] Where I just interrupted and asked. How annoyed are you that this drum kit is still in the garage? 

Bryce's Dad: [00:09:14] Ah, we can live with it. We can live with it. Well, yes, I know about the $100 challenge. 

Bryce: [00:09:22] Yes. So. And how a lot of the hurdles that I'm facing with the drum kit is the fact that it's in Wagga. On a lot. Not a lot of people want to make the journey from Sydney. So I'm desperate. I'm very close to being able to sell it. But I'm just wondering if you and Mum the big unlock is if you are able to bring it to Sydney when you come on the 1st of July. 

Bryce's Dad: [00:09:48] Yep, we can do that. 

Bryce: [00:09:49] Oh nice. 

Alec: [00:09:50] Oh you spoil, you spoil spoiling way too much. 

Bryce: [00:09:53] Ren was hard. The second question is, will it actually fit in the car?

Bryce's Dad: [00:10:00] I'll do a dummy run and then see I'll, I'll. Yeah, yeah. Have a go and see what we can do. If not, Yeah. 

Bryce: [00:10:11] If we sell in parts. 

Alec: [00:10:13] Maybe if. You drive down to Wagga and then you guys convoy back. 

Bryce: [00:10:21] As long as the seats can go down, I think it will fit. But otherwise it actually will be quite tight. It's a massive kit, so. 

Alec: [00:10:27] I hope you try to bring any luggage to Sydney or anything. 

Bryce: [00:10:30] That's a good point I didn't even think about. 

Bryce's Dad: [00:10:32] We're just just in our bathers. I think. 

Bryce: [00:10:34] We will Leave it there. We're looking forward to seeing you in a couple of weeks. 

Bryce's Dad: [00:10:39] No worries. All right. So Ren. Bye. Bye. 

Bryce: [00:10:42] Nice, they have it. It's coming now. 

Alec: [00:10:44] You have a lot of lights still picking up after you. 31 years old. 

Bryce: [00:10:49] Love it. Love 32 Ren. Love it. Anyway, let's get to the serious part on the other side of this break. We're going to have a look at some of the ideas that we've come up with for the month of June to either save or earn an extra hundred dollars. And there's also some pretty funny ones that we found online that we're going to throw into the mix to see if it's worthy. But we'll pick it up on the other side of this. All right. Welcome back To Get Started Investing today we are talking about the $100 challenge, ways in which we can save or earn an extra hundred dollars a month to invest into the stock market.

Alec: [00:11:24] Because $100 invested every month over 40 years, compounded at the market's average. Right of return is $350,000. Little Things can add up to big things and price. We're now talking about what we're going to do this month in terms of the little things to make or earn. No, to make or say that extra hundred dollars.

Bryce: [00:11:46] Well, I'm not off to a good start Ren, because this month Harriet and I face a 25% increase in our rent.

Alec: [00:11:52] Yeah, well, the agent just was like.

Bryce: [00:11:54] Yeah, yeah. So kindly enough, I guess they gave us four months' notice, but they sent us a letter. 

Alec: [00:12:00] You can't contest or anything. 

Bryce: [00:12:02] No, they're just like market conditions, all the houses around you, blah, blah, blah. They have the right to do it. We're not in contact.

Alec: [00:12:08] So I just. 

Bryce: [00:12:10] Just month to month. Yeah. So 25% increase in our monthly payment but It is outrageous. My, my, my way to view it though is if, if that's an impact to Harriet and I, then we shouldn't be looking for a house. 

Alec: [00:12:24] Okay. So when you start servicing a mortgage anymore. Yeah. 

Bryce: [00:12:28] So it's like, well, like this is just. Yeah, it is. It is, but it's to be fair, if we were to leave and they would have put it back on the market, I reckon it would easily go for another 25%. On what if you look at what's actually being rented in that area at the same price. So they've yeah, it's, it's steep.

Alec: [00:12:46] But tell them that they'll just get another 25%. 

Bryce: [00:12:49] I know. So that's unfortunate. I'm not off to a good start but yeah. So they got me thinking it's like that's my biggest line item in my budget is accommodation or. 

Alec: [00:12:59] Is it this month? We're just not Going to pay rent. 

Bryce: [00:13:02] But there's not a lot else I can do on that because it is what it is. I can't really say anything there. And then when I look through my other items in order of what I am spending because I'm thinking, Alright, is there anything I can squeeze out here? Food is the next one, but we already are pretty good with food. I think other than doing what you did, which would be, you know, let's not spend entirely on lunch or whatever it may be. 

Alec: [00:13:27] So I'm a big fan of intermittent fasting because I feel like I have more energy throughout the day. But you also save a lot of money on food. 

Bryce: [00:13:35] By intermittent fasting. I just can't do it. 

Bryce: [00:13:39] They are starving. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I can't do it. 

Alec: [00:13:43] it's a bit sad when we're saying the cost of living is so bad that the way to get around it is. 

Bryce: [00:13:50] I know essentially what I'm getting at is that this challenge to me has to be in terms of making money. I think because I've gone through. 

Alec: [00:13:58] You've saved all that you can. 

Bryce: [00:13:59] Okay, So for example, I'm paying off my MacBook at 0% interest that Apple has that you know credit line.

Alec: [00:14:06] Be. Careful because that caught me. 

Bryce: [00:14:08] I Know. But it's still I've had to look after that so I could pay that off and then have the cash flow. But it's not really Yeah I'm not saving anything. I'm still doing the same. 

Alec: [00:14:17] You actually like technically time value of money. It's actually losing money. 

Bryce: [00:14:21] Exactly. There is one thing that's going to kick in at the end of next month is my golf membership. I'm pausing that.

Alec: [00:14:28] What's that? 20 grand a year. 

Bryce: [00:14:31] On 200 bucks a month. So then there's transport and bills and petrol. Like all these things, you know, they're not, they're not going to, they're not really going to change and we don't spend a whole lot of them, a whole lot of money on them. So for me it's like, okay, I don't think I can squeeze every month, squeeze the budget another hundred, another 100, another hundred. Yeah. So it's turning to well, yeah, how can I generate an extra 100 bucks a month? We've tried selling things. 

Alec: [00:14:58] Now, so let's just, let's just recap the last few months so we get a good timeline of what you've tried so far. Yeah. Month one, sell the drum kit. Yeah. As we've heard earlier, that's still going on. Still happening this month to buy clear umbrellas on rainy days. No clear days and sell them on rainy days for weddings. For weddings, Yes. That didn't happen. 

Bryce: [00:15:19] Didn't happen. 

Alec: [00:15:20] And then month three was that last month.

Bryce: [00:15:23] Month three.

Alec: [00:15:24] Was only use wifi when overseas. So if we were going to some of your attempts so far, I'm going to say they're out of left field. 

Bryce: [00:15:34] What I'm learning though is that for this to be meaningful, you need you almost need at the start, what I would have said is I'm going to try and squeeze the budget for four or five months as well as take four or five months to build something that is going to, after month six, be spitting out 100 bucks because you need a few months.

Alec: [00:15:56] So you mean like just building passive forms of income? 

Bryce: [00:15:58] Yeah, Yeah. Because I think you need a couple of months if you're to do dropshipping, for example, you need a couple a few weeks to think about what products to take. 

Alec: [00:16:07] I guess my point is that there's a lot easier ways I like the point of this challenge to be like even if. You feel like you can't invest? There are simple steps you can take to free up a little bit of money to invest, and that's all you need to do. Yeah, you're kind of destroying the central premise of what we're trying to do with your crazy scale. I'm also saying that everyone's got dropshipping. 

Bryce: [00:16:31] All right. But what I'm also saying is I don't really have anything else to sell. So, like, you need to be going to, like, generating out of nowhere forms of income. 

Alec: [00:16:43] Here's one that Alice suggested to me, which I'm not going to use, so I'm happy for you to take it. She suggested, Why don't you just sign up on Airtasker to do dog walking once a week? That would be easier than starting a dropshipping business, not selling clear umbrellas. 

Bryce: [00:16:57] Dropshipping is fun. That's like a business. This is all stuff that. Yeah. Yeah. You could do dog walking. That's a good one. The other one. So that couple that have come through. Well, then I thought passive income. Alright, we've obviously stocks, ETFs spit out passive income. If you just. What would it take? Yeah. What would I need to invest in a high yield dividend stock to get $100 a month? 

Alec: [00:17:26] Well, I mean, rough. Rough. You probably wouldn't go in a high dividend paying stock. You'd go in like a corporate bond or something. These days, you probably can get 5% yield a year. So if you made 1200 bucks a year, you know, 60 grand invested. 

Bryce: [00:17:43] Now, you know, you can get. 

Alec: [00:17:45] 24 grand invest. 

Bryce: [00:17:46] Yeah, you can get some that spit out a bit more than that at the moment at closer to ten. So yeah, about 15 grand is what it came out to, that you need to, to get in to get 100 bucks a month. So that's kind of out of the equation because I don't have 15 large people sitting around. 

Alec: [00:18:00] Again, it kind of just defeats the point of the challenge. So I've got here's how I'm going to make 100 bucks a month. I'm going to invest a million. 

Bryce: [00:18:11] So anyway, where I've got to run is yes, looking at some easy ways to try and generate 100 bucks a month. I've got a bunch of plants that I know are in vogue at the moment at home that were there when we moved in and we were told by the people that previously lived there, you can have them. They sit out the front, easy to go on. Gumtree I don't think they are to the tune of 100 bucks, but they're called snake plants. A lot of people use snake plants there. 

Alec: [00:18:42] I mean, that's great, like you could just put a full stop at the end of that sentence and that could be what you try and do this month. 

Bryce: [00:18:47] So that's what I'm going to try and do. But what I'm saying is those. 

Alec: [00:18:50] It felt like winding up for a big but. 

Bryce: [00:18:52] No opportunities for selling things. I'm just warning of becoming very thin. 

Alec: [00:18:59] Well, so far we've done a drum kit in Wagga and now we're trying. The second thing, I think you've got brothers. 

Bryce: [00:19:07] Umbrellas. But I would also say that we are also going to be my wife and I have it, We're going to the Kirribilli markets. It's in July though. You have to book a fair chunk in front. 

Alec: [00:19:15] You have to book a month in advance to go to a market. 

Bryce: [00:19:17] Yeah, Yeah. Well I think they're quite limited spaces I guess.

Alec: [00:19:22] You're going to be a vendor. Oh I thought you meant like you were going to shop. 

Bryce: [00:19:27] Yeah. So I'm going to leave. What? We're going to sell until the next episode, but let it be known if the site, if, if the drum kit and the market goes off, I'm going to be loaded in in July.

Alec: [00:19:39] That's great. You're still going to have to front up in August for something else. 

Bryce: [00:19:43] No. I'm going to maybe hold one of them then. But anyway, around this month I've got plants. I'll be stoked if I get them for 100 bucks because the day that I've done it, I don't think I quite have enough, but I'm going to give it my damn best nights. 

Alec: [00:19:58] All right. Well, Bryce, I am just going to really keep things simple, all right? As I've been doing every month, just what are the little things I can do? So I've got three savings accounts. I was a CommBank kid from way back. Dolomites came to the school. They hooked me and never left. Yeah. So three savings accounts in my bank. I've got a house deposit that I'm saving for. Hopefully one day I've got travel savings and then I've got an emergency fund. And I was looking at the interest rates and it was weird because two of them were paying a lot better than the third one. And I was like, I like to set them up the same way They feel the same. I don't know what's going on. And so there I was looking at bank savings accounts. Turns out they've got a net bank saver and a goal saver Goals Saver is currently paying 4% a month. Okay, there's like conditions on all of them. I think it's like you just can't take money out. You got to put money in 4%. NetBank saver 1.95%.

Bryce: [00:20:54] Oh my God. 

Alec: [00:20:55] And we we shared in our Facebook group and on our forum on our website earlier this month, this Google sheet that it's from open comparison it's done the the circuits around read it a few times about it's like an up to date list of the best savings rates at the moment. If you want to have a look, go to our Facebook. And you can have a look at it. Compare that 1.95% from the net bank saver to the best in the market right now. According to this sheet, the best in the market is ING savings Maximiser 5.35%. If you get the bonus interest rate.

Bryce: [00:21:34] I think there's actually one at 5.3 BOQ. 

Alec: [00:21:37] So these. 

Bryce: [00:21:38] Sheets for you have to be fought between for 10 to 35 years so. 

Alec: [00:21:43] That we're not eligible for the best one. According to this sheet, 5.5%. Australian Mutual Bank, Young Saver. Unfortunately, we're not young anymore. And then you write back, you have some youth savers, some future savers at 4.3. So if you have a look at this sheet, you can see them all. It's like 50, 60 rows of the different bank accounts on what they're paying. But this month I am going to break my Dolomites. I was going to say, cos it's not because my Dolomites ties and I'm going to branch out, pun definitely intended, into a new bank and I'm going to set up a savings account with a bank that pays me better than 1.95%. Some may argue I could just change my net bank saver to a girl saver account income bank. But no, I think it's time. So how am I going to make an extra hundred dollars? In all honesty, if I move these savings accounts, it'll be more than 100. 

Bryce: [00:22:41] Over time. 

Alec: [00:22:41] Over time, I'm going to actually get the best. I'm going to chase the best savings right now. Something that you probably did years ago. 

Bryce: [00:22:48] Yeah. I mean, that account, this is what I mean, I can't squeeze it. 

Alec: [00:22:51] Oh, Mr. Perfect over here. I can’t wait for you to do homemade tattoos at the caravan market next month. 

Bryce: [00:23:00] 5.25%. Why don't you do all of them? 

Alec: [00:23:02] All my savings? I probably will. Yeah. Then you have to. So with Ange, you have to then do your five card transactions a month. Yeah. So I could do that. Or I could just find the best accounts. That's just. That's just like you can put money in. We'll give you a good interest rate. No ifs, ands or buts. But probably, like, I can move my transactions to orange as well. 

Bryce: [00:23:24] Yeah, five a month. I think you also have to put in, like, a thousand bucks or something.

Alec: [00:23:29] Oh, really? 

Bryce: [00:23:29] But all you do is just if you're transferring in. Oh you say transaction and then throw your savings in. That counts. 

Alec: [00:23:38] Oh, okay. Cool. Well, the good thing is on this sheep, it has all the requirements for the bonus. They all have limits on how much they'll pay the bonus to like 100 K to 50 K. Yeah. Not near that, but yeah. So next month I'll come back and I'll tell you where I opened it up and how much better my interest rate is.

Bryce: [00:23:57] Love it. We were surprised. Yeah. So we have that account and we were going to put some of our, some of our cash into a term deposit. But the rates on the savings at the moment are just way better. Not way better, but like for the term deposit for the flexibility of not having. Yeah. Better than. Yeah. Better than like short term deposits I guess because you got to try to pull.

Alec: [00:24:17] The trigger on a house. So you need access to it, don't you? 

Bryce: [00:24:20] Well, it wasn't only that. Like we were actually thinking of emergency accounts. 

Alec: [00:24:24] But. So when you come for that. Oh, I guess you can just like the liquidity.

Bryce: [00:24:27] Yeah, but it's just like there's no , there was no argument for the term deposit because the savings account, it was just a whopping 5.25. So I was like, well, just might as well leave it in there. 

Alec: [00:24:38] There you go.

Bryce: [00:24:38] Nice. Alright, well, if you have an idea on how you could help generate an extra hundred bucks a month, particularly for me, give me a call, give me a call, help me out.

Alec: [00:24:49] I equity match dot com. You can record a voice note and we'll play it on the show. Yeah. And yeah. Can someone please help us? Yeah. He thinks he's tried every trick in the book. We've been doing this thing for like three months.

Bryce: [00:25:00] Yeah. Give us a call. Hit me up on Instagram and I'd be happy to work with you if you want to go into business with me on a drop to drop shipping venture, hit me up. 

Alec: [00:25:12] Bryce is going to become one of those Instagram influencers like that, that hustle culture influencer. Sign up to my course and I'll teach you how to Dropshipping. 

Bryce: [00:25:21] Yeah, so if anyone out there wants to hustle with me. 

Alec: [00:25:24] Let me know. You'll be featured on Tik Tok investors by the end of the year. 

Bryce: [00:25:27] Great. Might generate some revenue from that. Anyway, we'll leave it there. And next month we will pick up A. Drum kit. Sold. B. What I'm going to be selling in the markets? And C, how our rent has gone changing his accounts over. Yeah but Ren, we'll leave it there and we'll be back next week. 

Alec: [00:25:44] Sounds good.